Rosaries



Sept. 30, 1958 'c. J. CASTELLANO ROSARIES Filed Aug. 29, 1955 THE FIVEJOY FUL MYSTERIES ANNUNCIATIUN VISIIAHON BIRTH a CHR ST PRILSENTATOHINVENTOR. [IdsftZM/Vt:

United States Patent ROSARIES Cousalvo J. Castellano, Brooklyn, N. Y.,assignor to Catholic Manufacturing Company, Inc., New York, N. Y., acorporation of New York Application August 29, 1955, Serial No. 531,224

4 Claims. (Cl. 35-23) This invention relates to novel articles ofmanufacture. In one of its more specific aspects the invention isdirected to a novel chaplet such as are employed in devotionalexercizes.

One of the most widely practiced devotion for decades has been theRosary instituted by Saint Dominic de Guzman, the founder of the Orderof Friars. This devotional practice by the devout comprises fifteendecades divided into three parts. The five decades of each part areassigned The Mysteries of the Life of Our Lord, these being (1) The FiveJoyful Mysteries comprising, the Annunciation, the Visitation, the Birthof Christ, the Presentation and the Finding in the Temple, (2) The FiveSorrowful Mysteries comprising the Agony in the Garden, the Scourging atthe Pillar, the Crowning with Thorns, the Carrying of the Cross, theCrucifixion, and (3) The Five Glorious Mysteries comprising, theResurrection, the Ascension, the Descent of the Holy Ghost, theAssumption and the Coronation.

The chaplet, commonly known as the Rosary, which has been extensivelyused by hundreds of millions, in general has consisted of five sets ofbeads, with each set consisting of ten evenly spaced like beads, knownas the Hail Mary beads, and between each pair of the decades is a beadknown as the Pater Noster, spaced further from each of said decades thanare the beads thereof from each other. Such combination in string formhas its ends connected to a medallion. Also connected to the medallion,and depending therefrom is a short chain carrying two Pater Noster beadsbetween which are located three Hail Mary beads. The lower end of thischain carries a cross or crucifix.

According to custom some of the aforesaid mysteries are used forreflection or recited on certain days of the week and within certainseasons and others on other days and other seasons. Prior to thisinvention as an aid to novices and others, it was proposed by C. W.Boulton in U. S. Patent 1,454,013 of May 1, 1923, to modify chaplets byreplacing the six Pater Noster beads and the medallion of the mostwidely used chaplet, generally known as the Rosary, with small platescontaining printed matter thereon indicating information for recitationof the Rosary. Such proposed chaplet or Rosary was not accepted to anymaterial degree, apparently because the Pater Noster beads wereeliminated and because the appearance of the most widely acceptedchaplet or Rosary had been greatly changed.

According to this invention, I have provided a simple means for advisingnovices and others what the mysteries are and when they should berecited without eliminating the Pater Noster beads or otherwisesignificantly changing the appearance of the well known chaplet orRosary or any other chaplet or Rosary to which it may be applied. Inaddition such means may be coupled therewith in any easy fashion andsuch means is relatively inexpensive.

The foregoing as well as other objects and advantages of the invention,will be readily apparent from the fol- Patented Sept. 30, 1958 lowingdescription taken in conjunction with the appended drawings wherein:

Fig. 1 is a front elevational view of a chaplet or Rosary embodying myinvention.

Fig. 2 is a front elevational view of the medallion and associatedplates being in open condition.

Fig. 3 is a view in side elevation of the medallion and associatedplates in closed condition as shown in full. lines and in open conditionas shown in dotted lines.

Fig. 4 is a rear elevation view of medallion and associated platesfanned outward in open position as shown in Fig. 2.

Fig. 5 is a view in front elevation of another embodiment of a Rosaryand embodying the present invention.

As shown in Fig. 1, the chaplet or Rosary has the same appearance as themost widely .used Rosary and consists of a string or chain or fiveseparate decades of ten Hail Mary beads 10 separated from each other byfour Pater Noster beads, 11, with the string or chain connected to amedallion 12 at the eyes 13 therein, and with a depending string orchain connected to the medallion 12 through eye 14 and to a crucifix 15,with three Hail Mary beads 10 between a pair of Pater Noster beads 11.

According to this invention the medallion 12 has a pair of plates 16 and17 secured thereto through a tubular pivot 18. One side of the plate '17has imprinted or embossed thereon the times for reciting the Joyful andSorrowful Mysteries, and its other side has imprinted or embossedthereon the times ,for reciting the Glorious Mysteries. One side of theplate 16 has imprinted or embossed thereon the *Five Sorrowful Mysteriesand its other side has embossed or imprinted thereon the Five GloriousMysteries, and the rear side of the medallion 12 has imprinted orembossed thereon the Five Joyful Mysteries.

The peripheral configurations of the plates 16 and 17 are approximatelythe same and for the most part, but with the exception of the upper partof medallion 12 are approximately the same as medallion 12; The plates16 and 17 are normally in collapsed condition with each other inregistry as shown in Fig. 3 and are maintained in such condition by thefriction engagement between each other. When they are in such condition,the novel Rosary has the appearance of the well known and most commonlyused Rosary. When one desires to ascertain the information carried bythe plates 16 and 17 and medallion 12, the plates 16 and 17 are swung orfanned out to the positions shown in Figs. 3 and 2. After the desiredinformation has been ascertained, the plates 16 and 17 are swung back totheir original positions whereby they are registry with the medallion 12and the combination in this condition has the front elevationalappearance of medallion 12 as shown in Fig. 1 and the Rosary in frontelevation has the same appearance as the most commonly used and bestknown Rosary.

Instead of employing the novel combination of medallion 12 andinformation-containing elements 16 and 17 in place of the medallion ofthe commonly used Rosary, such combination may be substituted for themedallion of any other Rosary. For example such a combination may besubstituted for the medallion of the Rosary shown in U. S. Design Patent134,067. In this instance the medallion 12 pivotally carrying theelements 16 and 17 has an eye 20 instead of the two eyes 13.

It is also within the purview of the invention to employ but a singleelement or plate such as 16 or 17 instead of using two plates. However,I prefer to use two plates 16 and 17 rather than only one in combinationwith medallion 12 for the reason of greater legibility due to the largerprinting being possible. Obviously more than two of such plates 16 and17 are also within the purview of the invention, if they should bedesired.

While this invention has been described in detail, it is not to belimited to the exact construction, shown because various modificationsand changes may be made without departing from the spirit of theinvention.

I claim:

1. A chaplet comprising a cross, a medallion, a pair of beads spacedfrom each other and connected to said cross and medallion, and a set ofthree beads between said two beads, five sets of beads connected to saidmedallion in endless form with each set of beads being ten in number andone bead located between each pair of sets, in combination with aninformation bearing element pivotally connected to and disposed behindsaid medallion and movable with respect thereto to an exposed positionto expose information thereon, and returnable to closed position behindsaid medallion.

2. A chaplet comprising a cross, a medallion, a pair of beads spacedfrom each other and connected to said cross and medallion, and a set ofthree beads between said two beads, five sets of beads connected to saidmedallion in endless form with each set of beads being ten in number andone bead located between each pair of sets, in combination with aplurality of information bearing elements pivotally connected to anddisposed behind said medallion, each of said elements being movable withrespect to each other and with respect to said medallion to expose saidinformation thereon and returnable to closed position behind saidmedallion.

3. A chaplet comprising a cross, a medallion, a pair in number and onebead located between each pair of sets in combination with aninformation bearing element of approximately the same size andperipheral configuration as said medallion, means pivotally connectingsaid element and said medallion to each other whereby said element whenin normally closed position being disposed adjacent to and in a planeapproximately parallel to the plane of said medallion and said elementbeing swingable in said first mentioned plane and with respect to saidmedallion to expose said information thereon and returnable to saidclosed position.

4. A chaplet comprising a cross, a medallion, a pair of beads spacedfrom each other and connected to said cross and medallion, and a set ofthree beads between said two beads, five sets of beads connected to saidmedallion in endless form with each set of beads being ten in number andone bead located between each .pair of sets in combination with aplurality of information beari when in normally closed position aredisposed adjacent to each other and to said medallion and respectivelyin..

planes approximately parallel to the plane of said medallion, and saidelements being swingable respectively insaid first mentioned planes andwith respect to said medallion to expose said information thereon andreturnable to said closed position.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,454,013 Boulton May 1, 1923 2,675,910 Rasmussen et al. Aug. 6, 19542,677,901 Tilleman May 11, 1954

